THE MAGAZINE 



O F 



HORTICULTURE, 



DECEMBER, 1846. 



ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 



Art. I. Horticulture in the Old Colony : with a few Notes on 

 several Gardens in Plymouth^ Mass. By the Editor. 



The great facilities of communication which Rail-roads 

 have effected, have been of great importance in the dissemi- 

 nation of horticultural taste and information. Distant towns 

 have now become the mere suburbs of the metropolis ; and 

 the results of frequent communication are the introduction of 

 the advantages which the neighborhood of large cities afford, 

 particularly in the examples of the neat suburban villas, and 

 highly cultivated gardens, which spring up every where 

 around them. The new and rare fruits and flowers are a 

 long time in finding their way into the gardens in the coun- 

 try, but no sooner does the town become connected by rail- 

 road communication, than they are at once sought after and 

 obtained. Indeed, in no one thing is there a more percepti- 

 ble change than in their gardens and grounds. This increase 

 of taste gives rise to the formation of horticultural associa- 

 tions, and, subsequently, to the dissemination of information 

 upon every branch of gardening. The Societies of Worces- 

 ter, Lowell, Providence, and lastly that of the Old Colony, 

 have been the resultsof bringing together both town and coun- 

 try by rail-road communication. 



The earliest Agricultural, and, perhaps, we should also add, 

 Horticultural, operations of the country were commenced in 

 Plymouth aijd its vicinity, extending to and around Boston ; 

 for we learn, by early Historical writers, that, as early as 

 1633, '•• Dorchester \ididi YQYj good arable ground, and hay 



VOL. XII. NO. XII. 59 



